Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. --- Mark Twain

Monday, May 24, 2010

Morocco - Mountain Roads

Back at the Atlas Mountains

The guide was "Morocco Overland" by Chris Scott and the route - code MA2.
Aït Herbil - Igmir - Tafraoute
It was said that the hardness of the road was suitable to the ordinary car.

At the beginning the road was very decent, not to mention the dust.

Then the road got narrower and proceeded along a dry river - bed

On the left and right The Anti Atlas in the evening sun

When evening came this time it was that kind of Bush Camp found by the road

But not any road shown by gps and computer

A local

And in the meantime this kind of greenness

But then the road became interesting and cool.
Actually - this very place was the reason to come here.

Now it was the second time that the road ended suddenly
because of the heap of stones in the middle of the road

My first thought was - now I am in a real mess, because driving such a long distance backwards and downhill would be quite problematic.
It is necessary to use gears while decelerating and not to use brakes because the brakes will guickly heat over.

And I had not practised before to decelerate by back gear on such a narrow and craggy fall-off road.
To stop the car properly - fix the handbrake, and engage the gear, then have some bigger stones under the wheels to avoid rolling back.

And then to find out about the situation.

A little further on was a heap of stones of about two metres high.

This stone - heap was not a fall-off which was my first thought, but it was a road-repairment.. And further 400 hundred meters ahead was the road-widening in progress.
And in spite of the fact that higher up caterpillar motor lorries were in progress working and moving, it was impossible to pass through the lower 200 metre distance of the road.